This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Washington • The National Association of Evangelicals is calling for greater precautions with nuclear weapons and a renewed effort toward disarmament.

"The rules have changed in the past 25 years," NAE President Leith Anderson said. "Nuclear weapons don't serve as a deterrent to the dangers of our post-Cold War era, which include rogue nations and terrorist groups."

The resolution calls for taking a second look at the Cold War doctrine of deterrence in light of shifting global politics, and challenges the United States to pursue new negotiations with Russia and other nuclear countries.

It does not, however, call for unilateral disarmament.

The resolution also challenges the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would create significant impediments for countries to develop new, usable nuclear weapons. The U.S. is one of only nine remaining nations that must ratify the treaty for it to come into force.

Last month, a dozen Utah religious leaders — including the Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City; the Rev. Scott Hayashi, Episcopal bishop of Utah; and the Rev. France Davis, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church — issued their call for ratification of the treaty.

The board of directors of NAE, which represents more than 45,000 churches from 40-plus evangelical denominations, approved the resolution at its semiannual meeting in October.

Anderson said nuclear stockpiles should be "a matter of national attention" because "one of the greatest terrorist threats would be a dirty bomb or some rogue nation that used a nuclear weapon."

With the nation's current attention focused almost exclusively on the economy, NAE Vice President Galen Carey said a nuclear attack would cause tremendous economic devastation.

"Over time," Carey said, "if we're able to negotiate a multilateral reduction to nuclear weapons, it may also lead to some savings in the national budget."

The Salt Lake Tribune contributed to this story.